Vontaze Burfict to the Saints??

this is a discussion within the Saints Community Forum; He's going to have to blow the roof off the building. I was very intrigued with all that pre-season All American ranking and athletic hoopla prior to the combine. But it's become apparent this guy has zero accountability and that's ...

He's going to have to blow the roof off the building. I was very intrigued with all that pre-season All American ranking and athletic hoopla prior to the combine. But it's become apparent this guy has zero accountability and that's just the biggest turn off there can be for me.

Nine days before the NFL draft, Vontaze Burfict was in Las Vegas, hanging out with one of his boys from Tempe, Ariz. It was a one-day vacation for Burfict, who planned to play a little blackjack and roulette, walk the strip, and see a performance by Jabbawockeez, the hip-hop dance crew distinguished by its expressionless white masks.

There may be an analogy there. Burfict, the former Arizona State inside linebacker, might as well be wearing a mask as far as NFL scouts are concerned. For them, he has evolved into a real mystery.

Is he the strong, instinctive playmaker who last September was rated as one of the premier linebackers in the country? Or is he the guy who careened through a disappointing 2011 junior season marked by multiple flagrant fouls, and followed up with a disastrous performance at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis in late February?

"You took a talented football player -- when he started college there, he was a highly recruited kid -- and he slowly regressed into this player that started to get cheap fouls and cheap penalties, and a player who had a horrible Combine workout," an AFC scouting coordinator said. "Not only the workout but the interview portion of the Combine. This is a guy who probably went from a second-round pick to no telling where he's going to fall."

The 6-foot-3 Burfict admitted he struggled to harness his anger on the field, where he had 16 personal foul penalties in his final 26 games for ASU. He also gained some weight last year, going from around 252 pounds to 259. As a result, he played heavier and slower. Although his total tackles dropped from 90 in 2010 to 69, he made seven tackles for losses and had five sacks.

At the Combine in Indianapolis, he bombed both in the drills on the field (he ran a tortoise-like high-4.9 in the 40) and during his interviews with teams. The whole process overwhelmed him.

"Man, I'm always nervous," Burfict said during a telephone conversation from his Vegas hotel room. "But at the Combine, it was a nervous like I was going to have a nervous breakdown. Especially looking up at all those coaches. For me to be in that spotlight, it was very nerve-racking."

Man, I'm always nervous," Burfict said during a telephone conversation from his Vegas hotel room. "But at the Combine, it was a nervous like I was going to have a nervous breakdown. Especially looking up at all those coaches. For me to be in that spotlight, it was very nerve-racking

He wouldn't be nervous if he had stayed in shape and prepared for the event. No thanks.

Trust me, you don't want him. If you do get him, he will be either A. a steal, or B, a total flop. We at the Lions messageboards were contemplating getting him until his performance/attitude at the combine came about. His poor performance and personality have translated to his drop in draft stock. No one really wants that kind of thing in their lockerroom...I don't think you do either lol